She's A Sabbatical Beauty: Jordie Bell

The list of facts: I love singing; I love reading (mostly science fiction and literary fiction); I have a daughter (3) and a husband, one sister and 4 half-sibs who I love; I’m 39; I live in Adelaide (Australia). I juggle two professional roles (Dean at a residential college for university students, and Psychologist in private practice - a new venture). I enjoy reading the online comics XKCD, Questionable Content and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, and a guilty pleasure is reading Slate’s Dear Prudence Column, and Jenny Trout’s Buffy recaps (her hilarious/thought-provoking “50 Shades of Grey” chapter-by-chapter takedowns are worth a look too). I spend too much time on Facebook on my phone - this is an issue I’ve recognised but have yet to take any decisive action on. I attend our local Sunday Assembly chapter (think: church for people who aren’t interested in religion) on a monthly basis and I’m involved in the organising committee. I really like, enjoy spending time with, and am interested by, people; but my ideal afternoon would be me on my own, in a cafe with a really good book, for some lunch, some hot chocolate, a bit of cake and some more hot chocolate. Oh, but it’s really hard for me to find chocolate I’m willing to eat/drink, since I learned last November that almost all chocolate that’s not specifically branded FairTrade or Organic, is made by child slaves. So chocolate makes up a much smaller proportion of my diet than it used to before November last year. Apologies if that has just ruined chocolate for anyone!

I think I’ll stick with Camellia Rose Mask (sadly sunsetted now) because I’m gentle but incredibly effective.

Cruelty to others; the way that our modern economy runs on the assumption that some lives are inherently worth less than others, and the dehumanising lack of empathy shown to vulnerable people around the world.

Reading a good book; cuddles from my daughter; getting some exercise and enough sleep; blue skies and warm Spring weather; dancing to Indie Pop; the selfcare I’ve learned to show myself through regularly using Sabbatical Beauty products over the last 6 months.  

Rose Foaming Cleanser. I love the gentle way it cleans my skin. So hard to pick just one through, when they work together so well!

I’m tempted to go all rational/scientific and say “the way it provides an effective semipermeable barrier between the stuff I want to keep inside me, and the rest of the world”, but while I’d miss that very important function if my skin wasn’t doing it well, it’s not actually my very favourite thing.

One thing I loved about my skin was the stretchmarks I got on my belly when I was pregnant. They were long, bright red and regularly spaced in a cool-looking radial pattern along the sides of my belly - I felt like I was a Thundercat, maybe a female version of Tygra, and it made me very happy when I looked in the mirror. I kind of miss them since they’ve faded away.

I’ve been very lucky in my skin all my life - it’s generally been in good condition with few lines. Translucent in places - I really like the way I can see my veins at my hips, neck and wrists - it will nonetheless take a summer glow pretty effectively, and as I’ve never smoked and always SPF’d each day, I haven’t picked up too much environmental damage. So my favourite thing is that my skin just works for me, without me ever putting too much thought or effort into it. This is even more true since using SB, as I rarely bother with makeup these days.